What if Walt Disney was the producer of Looney Tunes/Walt Disney Animated Classics/Bambi
Bambi is a 1942 American animated dramedy film directed by David Hand (supervising a team of sequence directors), produced by Walt Disney and based on the book Bambi, a Life in the Woods by Austrian author Felix Salten. The film was released by RKO Radio Pictures on August 13, 1942, and is the sixth Disney animated feature film. The film follows Bambi, a white-tailed deer and his growing relationship with his father, the Great Prince of the Forest, who raises him after his mother was killed by hunters. For the movie, Disney took the liberty of changing Bambi's species into a white-tailed deer from his original species of roe deer, since roe deer are not native to North America, and the white-tailed deer is more widespread in the United States. The film received three Academy Award nominations: Best Sound (Sam Slyfield), Best Song (for "Love Is a Song" sung by Donald Novis) and Original Music Score. In June 2008, the American Film Institute presented a list of its "10 Top 10"—the best ten films in each of ten classic American film genres—after polling over 1,500 people from the creative community. Bambi placed third in animation. In December 2011, the film was added to the National Film Registry of the Library of Congress. Plot A doe gives birth to a fawn named Bambi, who will one day take over the position of Great Prince of the Forest, a title currently held by Bambi's father, who guards the woodland creatures from the dangers of hunters. The fawn is quickly befriended by an eager, energetic rabbit named Thumper, who helps to teach him to walk and speak. Bambi grows up very attached to his mother, with whom he spends most of his time. He soon makes other friends, including a young skunk named Flower and a female fawn named Faline. Curious and inquisitive, Bambi frequently asks about the world around him and is cautioned about the dangers of life as a forest creature by his loving mother. One day out in a meadow, Bambi briefly sees the Great Prince but does not realize that he is his father. As the great prince wanders uphill, he discovers the hunters are coming and rushes down to the meadow to get everyone to safety. Bambi is briefly separated from his mother during that scene but is escorted to her by the Great Prince as the three of them make it back in the forest just as the hunters fire their guns. During Bambi's first winter, he and Thumper play in the snow while Flower hibernates. One day his mother takes him along to find food, when the hunters show up again. As they escape his mother is shot and killed by the hunters, leaving the little fawn mournful and alone. Taking pity on his abandoned son, the Great Prince leads Bambi home as he reveals to him that he is his father. The Great Prince asks Friend Owl to find a doe to raise Bambi, since his duties are to his herd, but Owl informs him that because of the harsh winters the does can barely feed themselves, let alone any extra mouths. The Great Prince has no choice but to look after Bambi until the spring. Months later, the Great Prince allows Bambi to accompany Thumper and Flower to see the Groundhog, whose shadow will foretell if winter will end soon. Bambi lies to them about how close he and his father are, while the Great Prince keeps the truth of his mother’s death from him. At the groundhog ceremony, Bambi meets up with Faline. The Groundhog is coaxed out of his hole, only to be scared back in again by Ronno, an older fawn than Bambi. Ronno tries to impress Faline with his stories of his encounter with an hunter, and the whistles they use to imitate deer, but Faline does not believe his tall tale while Bambi actually believes it and says it is unbelievable, but Ronno takes it literally. Bambi and Ronno immediately dislike each other, but Bambi is intimidated by Ronno, afraid to stand up for himself, and is relieved when he leaves with his mother. The other animals leave as well, and Bambi falls asleep waiting for his father to come get him. But after many hours of waiting, Bambi dreams of his mother and hears her voice calling him into a meadow. It turns out to be an ambush by the hunters using the same trick Ronno warned him about. The Great Prince comes to his rescue and orders Bambi to run, but the fawn is too scared to obey. Both manage to escape and Bambi is yelled at for almost getting himself killed. It’s then that Bambi realizes the hunters killed his mother, and the Great Prince confirms it. While Bambi sleeps, the Great Prince tells Friend Owl that winter is ending and he should have no problem finding a doe now. In the days following, the Great Prince confines Bambi to the den where he’ll be safe, not trusting him to be out by himself anymore. When he leave, Bambi confesses to Thumper and Flower the estranged relationship he and his father share, and tells them he wishes he could impress him. They decide to help Bambi learn how to be brave by sneaking out, and while doing so get into an altercation with a porcupine. It ends with quills rammed into Bambi’s backside and his father almost catching him outside of the den. Ronno and Faline, hearing the commotion, investigate. Bambi gets into another fight with Ronno when he sees him bothering Faline. Ronno chases him and Thumper through the forest until Bambi leaps to safety over a large ravine. The Great Prince, having seen the whole thing, is at first angry at Bambi, but gets impressed by his feat. Ronno (jealous of the young prince) tries to leap after him, but falls into the chasm, thwarted for now. The next day Bambi practices jumping with Thumper, determined to make his father proud again. Thumper encourages him to just talk to the Great Prince, and the two finally connect when the older stag shares some wisdom with him about feeling the forest in his hooves. The Great Prince finally decides to allow Bambi to come along with him on his patrols, and as the days progress the two get closer than ever. He helps Bambi to overcome any obstacles in his path, as well as his fears, and Bambi helps him to loosen up and have fun; all the while Ronno continues to grow jealous of the young prince. One morning, Friend Owl finds Bambi and the Great Prince playing and introduces them to Mena, the doe he’s found to be Bambi's new mother. Bambi realizes the Great Prince planned on sending him away (unaware that he’s changed his mind) and snaps at his father, telling him he wished he was with his mother instead of him. The Great Prince changes his mind again, deciding he’s not what’s best for Bambi, and sends him to go live with his new mother. Bambi, despite being immensely saddened, eventually accepts the change, deciding his own happiness isn’t as important as his duties as a prince. On the way to Mena’s den, Ronno shows up to taunt Bambi one last time and the two get into another fight that sets off one of the hunters' traps, snaring Mena and alerting the hunters. While the cowardly Ronno flees Bambi saves Mena by leading the hunters' dogs away from her, as his father works to set her free. The dogs chase him through the forest, and his friends help him to fend them off. Bambi keeps them away as long as he can, using the techniques the Great Prince taught him, until the hounds corner him on top of a rocky peak. Bambi manages to escape the last one by kicking it off a cliff, but falls off as well when it crumbles beneath him. His friends and his father all grieve him until Bambi reveals he’s still alive, and he and the Great Prince reconcile. Sometime later, Thumper shares his version of the adventure with the rest of his friends, while Bambi (whose antlers have just grown in) enjoys the tall tale with Faline. Ronno appears and vows vengeance on Bambi when he encounters him again, until he’s bitten on the nose by a snapping turtle and runs off screaming for his mother for help. The gang is unfazed by Ronno’s threat, and Bambi leaves to meet up with his father, who decided to raise him after all. The film ends with the two sharing a tender moment as the Great Prince shows Bambi the field where he and Bambi's mother met in childhood. Cast *Donnie Dunagan as Bambi ** Bobby Stewart as Baby Bambi *Fred Shields as the Great Prince of the Forest *Peter Behn as Thumper *Stan Alexander as Flower *Will Wright as Friend Owl *Cammie King as Faline *Donnie Dunagan as Ronno *Paula Winslowe as Bambi's mother, Mena and the Pheasant * Thelma Boardman as Miss Bunny, Quail Mother and the Frightened Pheasant * Mary Lansing as Aunt Ena, Mrs. Possum, the Pheasant * Margaret Lee as Mrs. Hare * Otis Harlan as Mr. Mole * Marion Darlington as Bird calls * Clarence Nash as Bullfrog and the Hunter Dogs * Mel Blanc as the Groundhog and the Porcupine * Stuart Erwin as Tree Squirrel Production Development In 1933, Sidney Franklin, a producer and director at Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, purchased the film rights to Felix Salten's novel Bambi, A Life in the Woods, intending to adapt it as a live-action film. After years of experimentation, he eventually decided that it would be too difficult to make such a film and he sold the film rights to Walt Disney in April 1937. Disney began work on crafting an animated adaptation immediately, intending it to be the company's second feature-length animated film and their first to be based on a specific, recent work. However, the original novel was written for an adult audience, and was considered too "grim" and "somber" for a regular light-hearted Disney film. The artists also discovered that it would be challenging to animate deer realistically. These difficulties resulted in Disney putting production on hold while the studio worked on several other projects. In 1938, Disney assigned Perce Pearce and Carl Fallberg to work on the film's storyboards, but attention was soon drawn away as the studio began working on Fantasia. Finally, on August 17, 1939, production on Bambi began in earnest, but progressed slowly owing to changes in the studio personnel, location, and methodology of handling animation at the time. Writing There were many interpretations of the story. As Mel Shaw claimed Originally the film was intended to have six individual bunny characters, similar to the dwarfs in Snow White. However, Perce Pearce suggested that they could instead have five generic rabbits and one rabbit with a different color than the rest, with one tooth, would have a very distinct personality. This character later became known as Thumper. There originally was a brief shot in the scene where Bambi's mother dies of her jumping over a log and getting shot by the hunters. Larry Morey, however, felt the scene was too dramatic, and that it was emotional enough to justify having her death occurring off screen. Walt Disney felt the relationship between Bambi and his father should be a good plot point for the film, so he decided the film can start focusing on both the Great Prince of the Forest struggling to raise the motherless Bambi and Bambi's doubts about his father's love, which it came to become the fim's main plot point. Disney and his story team also developed the characters consisting of a squirrel and a chipmunk that were to be a comic duo reminiscent of Laurel and Hardy. However, after years of experimentation, Walt felt that the story should focus on Bambi and the Great Prince. The squirrel and chipmunk make only brief appearances in the final film. The writing was completed in July 1940, by which time the film's budget had increased to $858,000. Animation Although the animators had animated deer in Snow White, they were animated, in the words of Eric Larson, "like big flour sacks". Disney wanted the animals in Bambi to be more realistic and expressive than those in Snow White. He had Rico LeBrun, a painter of animals, come and lecture to the animators on the structure and movement of animals. The animators visited the Los Angeles Zoo and Disney set up a small zoo at the studio with animals such as rabbits, ducks, owls, and skunks, and a pair of fawns named Bambi and Faline so that the artists could see first-hand the movement of these animals. Rico LeBurn's sketches depicted realistic animals, but as characters they lacked personality. Marc Davis created the final design of Bambi by incorporating LeBurn's realistic study of deer anatomy but exaggerating the character's face by making his proportions baby-like (short snout, big eyes, etc.). Although there were no humans in Bambi, live-action footage of humans was used for one scene: actress Jane Randolph and Ice Capades star Donna Atwood acted as live-action references for the scene where Bambi and Thumper are on the icy pond. The animators learned a lot about animals during the film's production, giving them a broader spectrum of animation styles to use in future projects. The backgrounds for the film were inspired by the Eastern American woodlands. One of the earliest and best-known artists for the Disney studio, Maurice "Jake" Day, spent several weeks in the Vermont and Maine forests, sketching and photographing deer, fawns, and the surrounding wilderness areas. However his first sketches were too "busy" as the eye did not know where to focus. Tyrus Wong, a Chinese animator, showed Day some of his impressionistic paintings of a forest. Day liked the paintings and appointed him art director of the film. Wong's backgrounds were revolutionary since they had more detail around the center and less around the edges, thus leading a viewer's eye to the characters. Music Songs * Love is a Song - Sung in the opening credits of Bambi. It is sung again at the end of the film where the Great Prince shows Bambi the field where he and Bambi's mother met in childhood. * Little April Shower - Sung when Bambi and his mother settle down and witness the rain just before the night storm. * First Sign of Spring - Sung when Bambi and his father begin get along. Release Bambi was released in theaters in 1942, during World War II, and was Disney's 6th full-length animated film. The film was re-released to theatres in 1947, 1957, 1966, 1975, 1982, and 1988. It was then made available in North America on home video in 1989 and in the UK in 1994. Even in home video, it has seen multiple releases, including two VHS releases — in 1989 (Classics Version) and 1997 (Masterpiece Collection Version) — and most recently a digitally-remastered and restored Platinum Edition DVD. The Platinum Edition DVD went on moratorium on January 31, 2007. Bambi was released as a Diamond Edition on March 1, 2011, consisting of a Blu-ray and DVD combo pack. This release included multiple bonus features not previously included in Bambi home releases: a documentary entitled Inside Walt’s Story Meetings – Enhanced Edition, two deleted scenes, a deleted song, an image gallery, and a game entitled Disney’s Big Book of Knowledge: Bambi Edition. This release also marked the first use of "Disney Second Screen", a feature which is accessed via a computer or iPad app download that syncs with the Blu-ray disc, allowing the viewer to follow along by interacting with animated flip-books, galleries and trivia while watching the movie. A UK version of Diamond Edition was released on February 7, 2011. In honor of the film's 75th anniversary, Bambi was released as part of the Walt Disney Signature Collection on May 23, 2017 (digital) and June 6, 2017 (Blu-ray/DVD/digital combo pack). Reception Bambi lost money at the box office for its first release; out of its $1.7 million budget, it only grossed back $1.64 million. The film was released during World War II and lacked access to much of the European market. Roy Disney sent a telegram to his brother Walt after the New York opening of the film that read: "Fell short of our holdover figure by $4,000. Just came from Music Hall. Unable to make any deal to stay third week ... Night business is our problem." At the time of the film's release, Bambi received mixed reviews from the critics, mainly because of the lack of fantasy elements in the film and focusing more on the relationship between Bambi and the Great Prince. Hunters spoke out against the movie, and in a 1942 edition of the magazine Outdoor Life, editor Raymond Brown wrote that the film was "... the worst insult ever offered in any form to American sportsmen". The New York Times claimed, "In the search for perfection, Mr. Disney has come perilously close to tossing away his whole world of cartoon fantasy". Film critic Manny Farber called it "... entirely unpleasant ..." and agreed with The New York Times statement saying, "In an effort to trump the realism of flesh and blood movies, he Disney has given up fantasy, which was pretty much the magic element". Even Disney's daughter Diane complained, saying that Bambi's mother did not need to die. When Walt claimed that he was only following the book, Diane protested, saying that he had taken other liberties before and that Walt Disney could do whatever he wanted. However, Bambi is today viewed as a classic and recouped a considerable amount during the 1947 re-release and subsequent re-issues. The film holds a 89% "Fresh" rating from critics on Rotten Tomatoes. Critics Mick Martin and Marsha Porter call the film "the crowning achievement of Walt Disney's animation studio". English film historian Leslie Halliwell wrote that Bambi was "one of Disney's most memorable and brilliant achievements with a growing bond between Bambi and his father, a great comic character in Thumper and a climactic battle between Bambi and the hunters' dogs that is genuinely thrilling". He concluded that it was "a triumph of the animator's arts". In June 2008, the American Film Institute revealed its "10 Top 10" – the best ten films in ten classic American film genres – after polling over 1,500 people from the creative community. Bambi was acknowledged as the third best film in the animation genre. Legacy American Film Institute Sequel After the success of the film on re-releases and home video, a sequel, Bambi II: Bambi's Children was released direct-to-video on February 7, 2006. It is set a year after the original film, telling about Bambi's adulthood and focusing on the children of Bambi and Faline, Geno and Gurri, who are very curious twins, and Bambi protects them a lot, which he decides to carring to his father to take care of them, in order to protect them from Ronno (who join forces with a pack of hungry wolves) and the hunters. Trivia